I hate renting - absolutely bloody hate it hate it HATE IT

[stripeymama]

I hate living with the knowledge that we could have to leave our home with only two months notice. I think that private tenancy rules suck and that tenancies should be for longer with substantially more notice to quit needed.

I hate not being allowed to decorate, and the way it doesn't seem worth doing things like growing vegetables or carpetting the stairs, in case we have to move out.

I hate the fact that my landlady is too tight to pay the letting agent to manage the property, so when things need doing/fixing/sorting out, I have to get in touch with the landlady.

Who lives in sodding Japan.

I hate the way she never does anything anyway, and our kitchen roof has been leaking for the last year.

I hate the fact that even if I were to get a job tomorrow, I'd only earn the minimum wage, which would not be enough to get any mortgage, even on a teeny tiny crappy house, anyway.

Just me then

No, we rent too, and are on our third house in just over a year due to the 6 month assured tenancy crap. Hopefully we will stay here a bit longer!

We are also landlords, and pay an agent to take care of the place. We have agreed to everything the tenants have requested from power shower in 2nd bathroom to new furniture in sitting room and double bed in one of the bedrooms. Not all landlords are shits.

I know they aren't all shit - just the one I have got now. She is very nice as a person (well she seems it over email - have not actually met her), but is just appalling as a landlady.

Just stressed out today as its the time of year when I might get notice to quit, and it really gets to me.

I hate bloody renting too!For all your reasons and also because I have to sign a contract for 6month or 12 month periods, and each time it is renewed I have to pay £75 administrative costs! Administrative costs my ass!!! Pisses me right off.

You're singing our song!

We're trying to do what we can to stay here, but it's likely we'll have to leave the country because we can never afford to buy here and social housing/assured tenancy on houses are almost non-existent.

Oh i will never be able to get social housing as I have somewhere to live.

Even if I get notice to quit, the council have told me that I will be expected to remain in the house until forcibly evicted, as to leave when the two months are up will be making us 'voluntarily homeless'

WTF???

So I'd have to stay here until big scary men forced me and my child out, and I'd probably lose all our possessions, before we'd be considered for a council property.

I agree wholeheartedly with the contract thing (2 months notice! that's rubbish even if you are a student with few posessions).

I joined shelter once in a fit of pique about it hoping the would be having a campaign, but they aren't.

if I could have a long term contract then I'd be happy to rent forever though.

I know the feeling! We moved from London to Yorkshire last summer so at least we can afford to rent a house instead of a 1 bed flat for the 3 of us. But it is sooooo frustrating not being able to decorate and make it your own. We were lucky enough to get a 12 months agreement but I am already worrying that it might not get extended in July.
I earn a reasonable wage but still don't stand a hope in hell of being able to afford a mortgage on a half-decent place - that's if we managed to get a mortgage in the first place.
Ah well. Moan over.

stripey - that's not how it works. You have to stay in the house until you get an official eviction order from the courts (which takes about two weeks from the end of your contract if your landlord is on the ball). then you take that to the council and they house you. you don't have to wait for the heavies. That's all they mean by "forcibly evicted" - they don't mean forcibly in the physical sense.

Yes - to have a five year contract would be so much better. I have no particular dreams of home ownership, its not that important to me, but the security aspect makes all the difference.

Same here, Parsnip.

And yes, stripey, we're in the same boat.

A lot of families are, you just don't hear about them a lot. Not sure why, though.

Same here, Parsnip.

And yes, stripey, we're in the same boat.

A lot of families are, you just don't hear about them a lot. Not sure why, though.

Ah - see they didn't make that bit very clear! But still, the idea of having to be taken to court and have a judgement of that sort made against you is not very nice.

I'm now renting off a mate. I'm sooo much happier. In principle, all the same problems might apply, but in practice I feel much cosier. We arranged cheap-ish rent but we maintain the house within reason (i.e. fixtures and fittings is our responsibility but the fabric of the house is her responsibility).

When my washing machine broke down, I phoned the repair man who came the next day. My washing machine broke last year too - in a property rented the regular way, managed through an expensive sharp-suited agency. It literally took months to sort it out. It was over christmas, so the people in the office kept going on holiday without handing our file over. They had to dot every 'i' and cross every 't' with the landlady in any case - it felt like chinese whispers. I cursed them as i lugged my bag to the launderette.

I got the last laugh though. The cheeky, lazy sods included 'notice to leave' in our original pack of paperwork, dated 12months after we signed. I gave them a call to say 'oh, since I see you've served notice on us, we're moving out'. Long silence down the phone. 'Did no one write to you to offer for you to extend the tenancy?'. Another longer pause 'You can stay, you know. Don't put yourself out by moving'. They were obviously intending to hike the rent after 12months, but instead they got stuck with all the hassle of remarketing the property.

This is cathartic.

The idiot agent had a 'no children' clause in the contract.... my daughter was colouring on the other end of his desk. Does she live in the garden then? Muppets.

I'm right there with you!

We have seen our landlord only once which was the first day we moved in, he took our deposit and we haven't seen hide nor hair of him since. He lives in thailand and we just cannot get in contact with him.

The gas safety cert ran out two months ago, luckily enough DP is corgi reg so he did the inspection himself but didn't do a certificate.

The neighbours were complaining about our tree overhanging the pavement so we had to pay for a tree surgeon to come and cut it back for us.

The shower completely broke so we had to replace it out of our own money.

We have tried getting in contact with him but don't ever get any reply

Saying that we did miss a rent payment one month (half our money half housing ben) and he didn't say anything or get in contact with us. I only realised the next month that it hadn't been paid.

We're renting off mates, too, but they're coming back from abroad in a couple of years and flogging this place.

My landlady forgot about the gas safety check last year - I ended up arranging it myself and taking the money out of the rent.

In fact I basically manage the property myself, which seems a little unfair... Maybe I should start charging her

our house came without a gas safety check and without a useable back door (which is a fire hazard - all properties should have 2 exits). I'd go on if I wasn't vaguely worried about one of them reading this and evicting us.

when i showed my old landlord to inch thick mould on the walls,warped floorboards and crumbling paint that was caused by damp he arrived back with a tin of paint to cover the mould!it wasnt like that when we moved in it was a brand new apartment

Is there anyone more sleezy in this country than a buy-to-let landlord. Is one of the qualifications to be a buy-to-let landlord that you have no morals or human decency.

I rented for years when I was single in London. My bathroom window got smashed through no fault of mine and my landlord never replaced it. What sort of human being does that?

They really ought to ban all privately rented accom, and let local authorities be in charge.

Oh there are others out there too! Sometimes I feel like an alien from outer space where I live. And if I hear someone say, "So you're JUST renting then" one more time I will scream.

Everyone round here owns their house wheras we have been renting privately for the last 3 years and will be for the forseeable future. House prices are just through the roof and a mortgage on a house to suit would cost us nearly twice what we pay at the moment.

The insecurity is the most awful thing. We just moved in here in October and already heard rumours on the village grapevine that our landlord is trying to sell to developers. Also a big hate when you live in a village is everyone knowing your business before you do!

Oh it is nice to rant. Normally I just grin and say I don't mind because I don't want people to feel sorry for me. I don't know if we will ever get back on the ladder!

Come to Germany. No stigma attached to renting whatsoever owning your own home is a status symbol, but not owning is not looked down on in the slightest). In most places rents are reasonable. You can't be evicted without a good reason and minimum notice is 3 months. I always shudder when I see the way tenants are treated and regarded in the UK and the concomitant pressure to get on the 'property ladder'.